win7pro backup of w510

[D L Davis]

I'm using win7pro on a w510. I typed in "backup" in the start box, and a program emerged that said it would back up my system disk. At first, I thought it was just windows it would back up, but when I ran it, it said it was going to back up over 500gigs...and that I could restore my system by using that backup. It said it would back it up to my external usb drive. Is that a clone of the drive? Can I trust it to restore my 500gig hard drive DATA and WINDOWS (including all software, registrations, and settings) if my current hard drive stops working...or would only a clone operation achieve this?

[Brad]

In my experience the backup included with Windows could back up everything though you would need to have a running Windows machine to restore it to. So no it is not a clone. Usually cloning software would run a OS from a CD or USB and access your system from there to make a mirror image to another HDD or SSD.

Brad

[shawross]

Keep in mind that these require repair disks to function correctly.

[D L Davis]

Thanks. Looks like I'd better go with the clone.